English
inevitable
Inevitable comes from Latin inēvītābilis ‘unavoidable’, from ēvītābilis ‘avoidable’, and ultimately from vitō ‘to shun’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitō1as vītāre‘to shun’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāre1‘to avoid’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilis1‘avoidable’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēvītābilis1‘unavoidable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inevitable1
- Englishearliest quotation 1831inevitable1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English inevitable
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “I pass also the jealousies, the quarrels, the disgusts,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitōWiktionary, English inevitableas vītāre‘to shun’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāreWiktionary, English inevitable‘to avoid’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilisWiktionary, English inevitable‘avoidable’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēvītābilisWiktionary, English inevitable‘unavoidable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inevitableWiktionary, English inevitable
- Englishearliest quotation 1831inevitableWiktionary, English inevitable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “I pass also the jealousies, the quarrels, the disgusts,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’
previous, obvious, virtual, violent, violation, voyage, convey, virtue, vengeance, violate, trivial, envoy, trivia, avenge, vis, deviation, virtuous, venison, wer, virtuoso, deviant, ochre, vindication, viaduct, vim, violator, virile, virility, trivium, virago, obviate, inviolable, 51 more
Today it means
adj Impossible to avoid or prevent.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “inevitable”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin vitō / inevitable